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Jääkäri
Jääkäri is a Finnish Rifle Team that first appears in Double Nation Pack: REDS DLC of Wargame: Red Dragon. History Most of the Finnish infantry throughout the history of the military of the independent Finland are light infantry, and the offensive light infantry are Jaeger (jääkäri) units, named after the Prussian elite light infantry (Jaeger) units of the First World War. From the early 19th century to the early 20th century Finland was an autonomous constitutional Grand Duchy under the Russian Czar. In the late 1890's the Czar started a process called 'Russification', which aimed to limit the autonomy of the Finnish Grand Duchy, which previously had no shared laws with the Russian Empire, as well as having a parliament and constitution of its own, the Russian influence being limited to the Czar only. This process provoked Finnish nationalists to start resistance and an underground independence movement. After the start of the First World War, the Russification process was intensified, and the independence activists started organizing military resistance. On 20 November 1914 some independence activists met up at Ostrobothnia house in Helsinki, which marks the formal founding of the independence movement (which later became the Jaeger movement). In early December 1914 the independence movement contacted the German War Ministry in request of assistance against Russia, and in January 1915 it was decided that 200 Finnish university students from the newly formed underground independence movement were to be sent to Germany for military training to prepare for an uprising against the Russian Czar. The first Finns arrived to the German military base in Hohenlockstedt in February 1915, and to mask the military nature of the training, they were placed on a 'scouting course' (Pfadfinderkursus). The Finns were trained to squad and platoon level infantry duties up to platoon leader, and in July 1915 they were incorporated in the Royal Prussian Army of the German Empire. The training continued in Hohenlockstedt, with more Finns arriving to receive the training. In May 1916 the Finnish soldiers were mobilised to fight on the Eastern Front, and they were rearranged as the 27th Royal Prussian Jaeger Battalion (Königlich Preussisches Jägerbataillon Nr. 27). The unit was placed to fight on the northern flank of the Eastern Front, in an area of modern-day Latvia. In December 1916 the recruiters and the Finnish underground branch of the Jaeger movement had a clash with the Russian military in Finland after some activists were arrested and leaked some intel, starting in further action against the Jaegers by the Russian military and state police. The process was however halted by the Russian February revolution of 1917, when the Czar was forced off the throne. After the Bolshevik October 1917 revolution in Russia, Finland declared independence on 6 December 1917, and soon after the independence declaration, in late January 1918, the Finnish Socialists supported by the Russian Bolsheviks started a rebellion against the newly formed government. To support the Finnish government, Germany sent most of the Finnish Jaegers of the 27th Jaeger Battalion to Finland, retaining only those with socialist sympathies. The Jaegers, with recent war experience and years of training were used as the backbone of the newly formed Finnish Army, and also the volunteer Civil Guard which fought in the defence of the Finnish government. After the Socialist rebellion was defeated, most of the Jaegers became career officers of the Finnish Army as well as formed the HQ of the Civil Guard. The new Finnish Army divided its infantry into Jaeger and Infantry units, Jaeger units being better equipped and trained for offensive operations, unlike standard infantry with older equimpent and strictly defensive purpose and training. At the beginning Jaeger units were bicycle units while Infantry units had to move by feet, and this continued until the Second World War. In WWII specific Armoured Jaeger (panssarijääkäri) units were created to support armoured units, with the same principle as the Jaeger units, just mechanised (with a similar role to the Panzergrenadier units). Over the course of the Cold War the previously bicycle transported Jaeger units were upgraded to motorised light infantry, transported with vehicles like the BTR-60 and Sisu XA-180, while Infantry units were transported on trucks like ZIL, Valmet Terra 865BM and Sisu SA-150 "Masi". The Jaeger units nowadays make up the most of the Finnish light infantry, as in the 2015 restructuring and doctrine change standard Infantry units were greatly reduced in size, due to precision weapons making static defence comparably obsolete. The new doctrine is based on using highly mobile offensive Jaeger units in territorial defence, and standard defensive Infantry units just as rear echelon infantry. Available Transport * BTR-50 * BTR-60PB * XA-180 * XA-185KT * Mi-8P Weapons Category:Red Dragon infantry Category:Rifle Platoons